Sixty companies, one question: doing business with Ecuador

This week in Aalborg I saw something worth sharing. More than sixty companies from North Jutland filled a room, gave up an afternoon, and came with one question on their minds: how do we trade with Latin America, and how do we trade with Ecuador?

More than sixty companies from North Jutland hearing about opportunities in Ecuador

That number matters. These were not curious onlookers. They were business owners, exporters and importers from a single corner of Denmark, and they came because they see a market of 650 million consumers that they have been watching from a distance and now want to enter. The event, "North Jutland meets Latin America", was organised by Business Aalborg with the Danish Trade Council and partners across the region. I was there as Ambassador of Ecuador, and my job was simple: to show them the door is open. What struck me was how concrete the interest has become. A local coffee roaster spoke about years of importing from our region. An exporter talked about the markets he wants to reach. The Trade Council shared practical advice on legislation and culture. This was not a diplomatic courtesy. It was a room full of people doing the math and concluding that Latin America, and Ecuador in particular, is worth the effort.

And we have a great deal to offer them.

Ecuador is the most megadiverse country per square kilometre on earth. That is not a slogan. It is the foundation of what we sell. Our cacao, our coffee, our bananas and our flowers come from one of the richest natural environments in the world.

We also have our people. Through the hardest years of the pandemic, Ecuadorians ranked among the most entrepreneurial in the region. We work hard, and we find a way.

With Martha Cisneros, a Danish-Ecuadorian entrepreneur and creator of the Danish-Latam Business Hub, whose support was key in helping organize this event.

So what a Danish company finds in Ecuador is simple: a serious opportunity to trade with hard-working people, in a land of extraordinary biodiversity. North Jutland brings green technology, logistics and high standards. We bring origin, resilience and an economy that wants to move from volume to value. That is not competition. It is a natural fit, and these companies can see it.

The demand is real, and it is growing. A year ago this conversation barely existed in this part of Denmark. This week it filled a room. My work, and the work of this embassy, is to make sure that interest turns into contracts, partnerships and lasting relationships, not just a pleasant afternoon.

Ecuador has something the world wants. In Aalborg this week, sixty companies told me so themselves.